20th Letter

¡Hola Amigos!

This week was pretty much a normal week down here in Paraguay. We had a lot of rain the past two days and when it rains it POURS! The “streets” down here are awesome to walk in when it rains! :·) No it’s really fun! Sometimes down here I feel like I´m going on a Jungle excursion or I´m in the Indiana Jones ride (except the crazy jeep four-wheeling rides are really just with buses). There are cows and horses everywhere and I thought I would never get used to it here, but I love it! This is an experience that I will never have again, so I might as well ENJOY the mud, rain, cows, dogs, humidity, Spanish, mundungo, y otras cosas que voy a experimentar!

¡Me encanta las personas aquí en Barcequillo! Esta área tiene personas que son más humilde y sencilla, el Espíritu es tan fuerte para sentir cuando estamos sentando en un lección o a la iglesia cada domingo. Para compartir el Evangelio cada día es un bendición. Le quiero me compañero Elder Graham. Gracias a él por su guía y las cosas que ha me enseñado. ¡Amo este Evangelio!

I hope that all of you are having a great Christmas (Thanksgiving) season. My mother has told me that FM 100 is playing Christmas songs already, please sing one for me J.

This week I have learned that the Gospel essentials are meant to be simple. Being on my mission, when we find people to teach, we just need to explain things really simple. These people don´t know and probably don´t care about “what is Kolob” or explaining “what is the body temperature of celestial beings” (Elder Holland). Keeping it to the basics is what the Spirit is going to work through. We need to just keep it simple! We teach, bare testimony and apply it to the lives of these people. Simple as that!

I love my mission! I wish I could grab whoever is reading this by the shoulders and just scream it to your face that the “Gran Paraguay Asunción Mission” is the BEST MISSION EVER! For those of you who are debating whether to go on a mission or not- GO! Yes it will be hard! Yes you will struggle! But it is the most rewarding thing to have in your life!

I love you all and pray for you! I hope that you are having a wonderful time and living the principles of the Gospel!

¡Les quiero machismo!

-Elder Martinez

19th Letter

¡Hola de Barcequillo, Paraguay!

What a fast week! I can´t believe the time! We have been working really hard this week to try and find as many people as we can! Faster than we knew it Sunday came and went like THAT!

I´m so excited because this next week we will be baptizing an investigator that I have actually taught and helped get to baptism! He is 12 years old and super smart! I am so excited for him! Not only that but if everything goes as planned his grandmother will be baptized a week after him! AWESOME!

Yesterday I gave a talk in our branch. Its funny because Elder Graham and I have just decided to have a talk ready to go for each Sunday because the President calls us 5 minutes before the meeting starts and asks if we will give a 15-20 minute talk…It was funny because yesterday I gave my talk and everything went fine. Its so awesome to talk in another lanuage!

One thing that is kind of funny is out here in my new area it is classified as “Suburban”. But every day we walk on paths through the grass, see wild cows and horses eating grass, and last night for the first time in my life I saw FIRE-FLIES! SO COOL!

Well we don´t really have any of the same kind of holidays down here except Christmas and New Years. All of the others are just kind of unnoticed. I hope you all had a fun Halloween!

¡Les quiero muchismo y orar para ustedes!

Elder Martinez

18th Letter

WEEK 13

¡Hola Famila y Amigos!

This past week has been CRAZY! I have been transferred to a new area called “Barcequillo” but I am still in the great Asuncion Area. It definitely took some adjusting to get used to it here, but all in all it is a great area. The people here are more willing to listen and invite us to their home. Although it is a poorer area I am excited to work here. We had about 20 people in our branch yesterday and we have an awesome branch mission leader. My companion Elder Graham is from Ohio and has one change more than I do. We are both working together in trying to get things set up and running.

More than anything that I want to talk about is my first baptism! YES, I had my first baptism yesterday with Diana and her brother-in-law Oscar who baptized her! It was so cool to see the final result of what our purpose is out here! I am so excited to bring more people to baptism!

I also want to say how difficult it was trying to leave my first area. I loved the people so much there and didn´t want to say good-bye. Its weird to think that most of the people that I will teach and be with for the next two years, I won´t ever see again. Strange, huh? But I am so thankful for the time I had to get close to these people and to learn from them. I swear I have never been tested more physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually than I have out here. There are not any words that can describe the mission than actually doing it! I have learned that out here you have to make every moment count, because if you deny contacting someone or forget to wake up on time-really anything that distracts from the work, you could have just a soul, or even worse SOULS. I wish that all of you could know and feel the way I feel right now.

The Lord puts us in situations that really try us and makes us sooo humble. I can´t tell you how many of those experiences I have had out here. I am so grateful for this opportunity and am constantly trying to improve to be a better person each day.

Thank you for all of your letters and support! I can´t tell you how happy I get when there is a DearElder or hand written letter in the encomeinda . I really appreciate the words of encouragement and love!

Anyways I want to let you all know that I love you and pray for you. Thank you for all of your examples and love!

17th Letter

¡Hola mis amigos!

Another wonderful week here in Paraguay! Coming up close on the end of my ¨training¨ here in Centro. Next week I will see if I stay here or get transferred to another area. My companion and I have almost the same amount of time here (he has 3 changes and I have 2). We will see!!!

Anyways, for those of you who read the blog you should check out some of the photos I have taken here. I just sent some more to my parents and they should have them update on the pictures section. This week we went by many of the historic buildings, monuments, cathedrals, and just the regular streets of Asuncion. Take a look!

Things are going fantastic and I just love to help down here. Sorry I don´t have too much to say, but all is well :)

Hope everyone is doing great!

16th Letter

¡Hola Otra Vez!

This week was fantastic! My companion and I went to a leadership conference (because my trainer is the District Leader), and we had General Conference this past weekend. It was very eventful, especially with all of the pouring rain we got down here! It was truly unbelievable to be in a place where the rain is like stepping into a normal shower with water comino in all directions. I´m reminded of what Forrest Gump said about the rain when he served in Vietnam, ¨There was rain that came down from up above, rain that came in sideways, and then rain that came from the ground up¨ Funny…because that is how it is with rain down here J

We are just starting to transition into Spring down here. We have temperatures of 106 degrees with humidity! I drink about 4-5 liters of water a day if not more! :) Its funny because everyone else down here is just used to the weather, while my companion and I are sweating up a storm. Its actually quite funny! You always have to look on the sunny side, being pesimistic only makes things harder.

Just like all of you members of the Church had the opportunity to listen to General Conference down here. It was really interesting to hear it in Spanish and English. I got to see the Saturday morning session in English at a members home, and saw all of the rest (including Priesthood) in Spanish except for the Sunday evening session. It was very different listening to the translation in Spanish because just like any other language there are words that don´t have the same meaning or translate over the same, so listening to both was ¨Chiki¨.

How exciting to hear all of the new temples that are being built! Crazy to think that there will now be 2 temples in Provo! I heard the congregation gasp when the Prophet announced that and it was funny to hear all the people buzz.

I really enjoyed the talk by the younger member of the seventy the last part of the Sunday afternoon session. He talked about being a ¨REAL¨member of the church and trying to have the Holy Ghost be your constant companion. It was cute to hear the story about him and his daughter when they were hiking up the tall mountain to get to the top. I also enjoyed the Elder Yamashita talk about missionary work. It made our (the missionaries I was watching it with) day to think about how awesome this opportunity is to have such an impact on people.

Anyways, I loved to hear from Conference and the beautiful music from the Choir. Watching the first 10 seconds of each session where they show the temple and other backgrounds of Temple Square reminded me of home! Not in a sad way, but in a very comforting way.

I love you all and pray and hope that all of you are doing well!

¡Les quiero muchismo!

-Elder Martinez

15th Letter

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

How is everyone doing??? I love all of you very much and give thanks for all of the great examples you have been in my life!

Life in Paraguay is going, going, going! I love being a missionary! It seems like every day brings something new and different and being put in difficult situations and learning to grow from them seems to be the best way of spiritual growth! I love it! So yes I have heard that the Utah Utes have won 54-10....GO UTES! It is a rare thing to be a missionary and be a Utah Utes fan! How sweet it is :)

I had a lot of unique experiences this last week:

• We had a service project were the Asuncion Stake helped paint and clean a school building. We had a lot of missionaries (two zones) and many members. It was amazing to see all the members work together to help this school look like a brand new building! Who knew that just some watered-down paint would do the job :)
• We heard about the Pope trying to be imprisoned for scandals dealing with children. Being down here in Catholic country, something like this is GOLDEN! The people are really starting to see the differences and unique circumstances that the scriptures have been prophesying about for all these years! Crazy!
• I had my first hair cut down here for only $3! They did a great job and I just still can´t get over how inexpensive things are down here.
• It rained like none other down here! I couldn´t believe how much rain literally was poured from above! It was like being in the shower with 1000 times the pressure. If you were to stay out in the street for 3 seconds, you were drenched. That was a fun day...

Anyways we are constantly working down here! There isn´t a break for the missionaries! I am so proud to be a part of this group to help share this gospel! I´m excited to see Conference in just 2 weeks! Life is great!

¡Les quiero muchismo!
Elder Martinez

14th Letter

¡Hola Amigos y Amigas!

First off before anything else I want to wish a late "Happy Birthday" to my Grandma Martinez! I love you and hope you had an amazing birthday! :)

Now....let´s start!

I know I have said this over and over again in almost every single one of my emails that I write, but the time is unbelievably fast! Cambios (changes) were this last week and my companion and I are still together until October 19th for sure. Who knows??? We could stay together longer than that! But anyways crazy how time goes by! I love to here from you and know how things are going up there in Utah! I loved the nice, cool Fall weather! Down here we are just beginning to get into Summer! Every so often we´ll get these rain storms for a day and then its usually cooler for about a day or two, but then after that it can be blistering hot! I love it! The members that we have feed us so well. You probably got the picture last night of my companion and I eating a chocolate icecream cake to celebrate my first month here in Paraguay! They are the best!

We have been working really hard down here and trying to find inactives, new investigators, and trying to help our progressing investigators pull through to baptism. It was kind of duro (hard) this week when we found out Thursday evening that 8 of our 9 progressing investigators are not progressing and have regressed a bit. But, what do you do when life gives you lemons? MAKE LEMONADE! :) So we focused on that one person who was progressing and tried to find 16 menos activos miembros en la iglesia. I don´t think I have been so tired in my life hahaha. Its so great though, that proves to me that I´m working and not just doing nothing. Its good! Sorry I don´t have alot of new things to share....

Anyways, I love this work and I know that I am here and I have been called to serve these people. I know that God helps us with anything- even with learning a language! Day by day it gets better and better here!

¡Les quiero muchisimo!
-Elder Martinez

13th Letter

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

Un otro dia aqui en Paraguay y la vida es perfecto :) Gracias por sus correos electronicos (email). ¡Los quiero muchismo!

This week was pretty eventful and to help my memory of what has happened throughout the week I have a list of things to remember to talk with you about. Here they are:

• This week was my first week of divisiones with one of the Zone Leaders- Elder Hernandez (from El Salvador). I was really anxious and nervous to do it, seening that I hadn´t even had a full change yet, but regardless I had no choice :) No, it was actually a great experience for me. I learned so much from Elder Hernandez. He is the only boy in his family out of 5, his father died when he was younger and him and his sister are the only members of the Church. I was most worried that I wasn´t going to be able to understand what was happening in our lessons, conversations, and all of it really. But, we went to work and taught eight lessons for the rest of that day, committed each of the people we taught to be baptized, and every single one said that they would. It is amazing that although this area is only 10-15 mins away from ours, the people are so different. Yeah this area where I am am is a challenge, but the good news is that we have 9 investigators that are on their way to baptism if they keep progressing they way they are. Hopefully everything will continue to get better with them :)
• So some interesting animals that I have seen so far in Paraguay include:
• Monkeys on houses (only when I went out of my area for divisions with Elder Hernandez)
• Bats (they fly in trees as common here as the birds do in Utah)
  
• Parrots (In the trees tambien)
  
• and Plenty of Dogs and Cats (People try to get rid of these animals because they are EVERYWHERE)
• Some interesting foods that I have eaten include:
• Baby squid
• Crocodile (here is called Cha-ka-rey Chacré)
  
• Chicken hearts (just like they have at Rodizillos y Tuscanos)
• and Plenty of Empenadas
• My companion and I helped our branch president´s family move this week. We were both fasting and sick with the cold and it was just awesome :) We could definately feel the burn afterwards for the next few days but we were blessed with our investigadores for our service.
• Its the end of the first change this week and I still have one more to go with my companion. Can´t believe how fast things are!

Things are going great down here in Paraguay! I love it here and I love the area I´m in. Sure its a challenge, but this place is my home for now! We are working with the members and the Church is improving dramatically!

Thanks for all of your love!

Les amo muchisisisisisisisisisismo!
Elder Martinez

Twelfth Letter

Hola Familia y Amigos!

¿Que tal? ¿Todo bien? ¡FANTASTICO! ¡Las cosas en Paraguay aqua son muy bien!

I think this week has been the best so far! Each week is goes faster and gets better than the last. We have our ups and downs but ups more than downs. I have a lot to talk about so hopefully I can get it all out!


First I want to talk a little more about the area I am in. I am in Zone 1, District 1, Area 1, called "Centro". We are at the heart of the Paraguay Asuncion mission right dead center in the city. We have buildings, apartments, parks, etc. BUT we also have slums and poverty worse than I have ever seen. It´s amazing to me to see such wealthy homes right next to them is a shack made of brick and tin. Interesting...

These are the things that we are working with in our area:

• The people in Centro are wealthier than most if not all the other places in Paraguay. The problem is when we try and contact people they either only are here for work, or we can´t get passed their maides who is a barrier for us. The wealthy feel like they don´t need us.
• A major area of growth that we had called the "Chaquarita" is now closed because it is unsafe. Elders and members have received death threats and have been held up to knife and gunpoint when they go down their. BUT that area was where we were seening the most improvement because the people were in poverty.
  
• Our branch needs to function on its own before we bring anyone new into it. If we start bringing new people into something that is broken or not working, we might as well not baptize them. So that is a major priority of ours right now.
• Currently we have about an average of 50-60 people showing up in our branch for sacrament
  

There is a lot of work, but it keeps us really busy! I love it! I love trying to be creative and think of new and different ways we can´t help these people out here. Its a different culture so some ideas don´t translate over quite the same but, we are slowly but surely making progress. :)

We have my first zone conference tomorrow with our Mission President and our Area President. Everyone is freaking out to make sure things work smoothly and that everything is under control for this new meeting tomorrow. We have been told that our Area Presidency likes to ¨drop-the-cane¨a lot and so every one is on edge for what might happend. I´m just enjoying the ride :)

Oh yeah this is our Area Presidency:

• President Mervyn B. Arnold
  
• President Adekaidis (EYE-DEE-KYE-DEES)
• President Foster

I think this week has been the first week where I feel I have my ¨groove¨or at least starting it. I have great relationships with all the members and my companion and I are able to teach people better. We had a great companionship inventory this past week and we fixed a lot of things that I think were clogging our gears to get us moving. He said something profound to me that I want to share with you.

We both talked about what we could do better with and how we could improve, but he said:
"From our time together, the one thing I want you to learn is this-

Be willing TO change, BUT, Don´t give in to change"

I love this because although it is something so simple, for me and for all of us it is something so true. We all should be willing to change, but not give in to the things that make us who we are for change. Very profound.

Anyways, I just want to let you know I love you and think about you every day! I love it here and I can´t believe how fast things go! This will be my first full month here in Paraguay! CRAZY! You´ll have a son who can actually speak the native language of our name :) HAHAHA Chiste!

I committed to myself that I will send you a bunch of pictures next week, so look forward to it. I PROMISE! Pictures of members, me, and much more. I promise, I promise, I promise!

Les amo muchismo!
-Elder Martinez

Eleventh Letter

Hola Familia y Amigos!

Well its been an interesting week and there is a lot to say so hopefully I can cover it all, but before I do I want to answer some questions.

Dad:

How do you like your companion?

He is good. There are a lot of things that make us different, but we get along. There have been a few times were we go to an investigators house and he just puts me on the spot and says ¨Okay...teach these people¨... completely like that. With no idea what to say, what to do, and most importantly not knowing how to say it. I don´t really like that and we have been working on better ways to include me in lessons. Another thing is he is an only child so I don´t really know if he realizes that there are other people besides himself that need to be taken care of. hahaha, that sounds bad, but its just he is very opinionated and stubborn and won´t take ¨no¨for an answer. For example we had an experience yesterday where one investigator (a 17 year old girl) didn´t want to come to church with us. He was absolutely determined, even if it meant dragging her out of her bed, literally, to the chapel... You know me, I´m more laid back and if they don´t want to go I´ll try to persuade them but I won´t go as far as march up to her room and start telling her what to do... He is funny...Different...But I have definately learned a lot from him.

Are you still eating good foods?

Oh YES! As you probably know, we eat with 3 families here in our branch, and one of them- The Maestre family- sends you pictures almost every week. They lived in California for a while and moved back here and they feed us well. There is also a really well-off retired man in our branch who takes us out to eat at ¨The Preferieda¨(a fancy restaurant here) and always gives us gifts (watches, chocolate candy bars, soap, cologne, chocolate cakes, etc). As far as food is concerned I am really blessed to be the place I am for that.

Are you in a ward or branch?

I am in a Branch. Area 1, District 1, Zone 1. Centro Branch. We have on a good day about 65 people including children.

I can´t believe school is already about to start! I have almost been gone for 3 months! Crazy the time here seems to go too fast!

Jackson:

Your schedule seems okay. Stick with it. Mr. Stevens and Mr. Coray are interesting people, but you will have fun. Hang in there and good job with working to get your Eagle. It is rough trying to keep up with all the merit badges- I know! But just keep reminding yourself.

1st - Sports Physcology (Parrish)

2nd - Chemistry (Stevens)

You´ll have fun with this guy... :)

3rd - Seminary

4th - Algebra 2 (Money)

5th - English 11 (Coray)

Same with this guy... :)

6th - Financial Literacy (Gladwell)

7th - Lifetime Activites (Salvo)

8th - US History (Harward).

Sunnie:

Thats funny about calling Alex! Do your chores and have fun with Jensen!

Autumn, Paisley, and Kye:

I love you! Keep on helping out mom! Have fun this next year with school! It will be fun!

Mom:

I loved that video you sent of Kye! That was sooo funny! It made me laugh soooo hard! I noticed your hair. Is it really that long??? I love you and thanks for sending that package. I love to read the letters you send me. Love you!

As for everyone else :) I love you too! The mission is going great! Each day is different and slowly but surely I am getting better in every aspect. I´m learning to love this place more and more, even though it is sooooo much different than home. The people are great! I really know that I am here for a specific reason and that our leaders are directed by inspiration. There are things that I would have never had learned if it wasn´t from the people I´ve met, the places I´ve served, and the ongoing change in setting. I learn more from myself here than any other experience I have had. It tests who you are, what you want to be, and where you are going. I love the mission. I love my family, friends, and the Church. Although the people are different, the Lord wants everyone to hear his word.

Les amo muchismo!
Elder Martinez

Tenth Letter

Hola Familia!

Wow there is so much to cover and to let you know what is happening!

First of all I want to answer some of the questions that you have been asking about:

• About sending packages, you can send them to the address on my blog. It should be something like Casilla de Correo or something like that, but for sure it is the one on the blog that isn´t my MTC address.
• I have not seen any black butterflies or the bugs that crawl into your feet. BUT, I have seen lizards and newts in our apartment that we have had to get out, a cockroach infestation, and death-worn dogs roaming the streets :) Its a very different way of life here, and each day I´m here I am more grateful for what I had at home (Yes, you all heard me, I may have not been sent to Africa, but I have been humbled here :)
• As far as sending the packages, you can put the ¨Virgin¨ on it and it shouldn´t be tampered with.
• As of right now I could go for some american candy. I don´t know food/candy/ anything really would be nice. Oh yeah and if you could please send me one of our Hymns made Simple book I´ll tell you why a little later. My companion says at best it could get here in 2-3 weeks because we live here in the city.
  
• Mom I loved to get your Dearelders! I did get the first one you sent but I figure it takes about 1-2 weeks when we get them at our district meetings. So you can send them and I will get them then.
• The language is difficult. I can understand about 80-90 % of what the people say but I can only speak the simplest of words to try and teach them. I wish I could just know it! Slowly but surely I hope to become fluent...
• I´m in Zone 1, District 1, Area 1, at the center of the city of Asuncion. There are many people who live here but there a lot who also live in an area called the ¨Chacarita¨ (CHA-KA-REE-TA). These people basically just live in stone homes built on top of each other, and they out of everyone in Asuncion are the poorest. We used to be able to go in to this area (a couple months ago), but after getting some death threats we were told to use our best judgement. So we haven´t been able to make HUGE progress in this area.
• So the picture you received is from an awesome family in our Branch.They are from here but have lived in California for about 20 years and then moved back here. They all have been members their whole lives, even the parents. They feed us every Sunday along with a few other families in our branch. The people are so giving!
• The picture they sent you was eating dinner at their home the other night with my companion Elder Larson. He really reminds me of Condie´s nephew that served in the North Mission. :)

It´s nice to here that everyone is doing well. I appreciate all of the emails letting me know how things are. Tell Jenny Borup thanks for sending me here email.

Yesterday we also had a great fast Sunday. My companion and I went to go pick up one of our investigators for church, brought here back, and we resumed the rest of our meetings. Just to let you know, I am not only a missionary in our branch but also the new pianist. Please send the hymns made easy book if you could :) Anyways we had fast and testimony meeting and I just started to slowy tear up. I could look at anyone, and luckily I was behind the piano so nobody could see how emotional I was, but I had never felt the Spirit so strong than in that meeting. I got up to bare my testimony very last, and the people in the congregation pointed to their watches hinting that it was already time to go and to go sit down. But, although my Spanish wasn´t so good, I said something like this:

¨Yo se que tener solomente un poco tiempo ahora, pero, yo quiero ustedes saber que yo sentio un espiritu especial aqua. Nunca en mi vida habo sentir esta sentimiento esta fuerza. Yo amo todos de ustedes. Se que este evangelio es verdadero. En el nombre de Jesucristo amen.

and what I tried to say was this...

I know that I have only a little bit of time now, but, I want you to know that I feel a special spirit here. Never in my life have I felt this feeling this strong. I love you all. I know that this gospel is true. In the name of Jesus Christ amen.

I teared up a little bit, but I knew that they felt bad. Some people came up and apologized to me afterwards and it was fine. But I really felt something great yesterday. It was a good fast Sunday.

Anyways, I have never worked so hard before in my life! Now I know for you that might not seem like a lot :), but I have come home not just tired, but EXHAUSTED! I think I told you in my last email that I have never sweated so much before, and this is just winter...No but the people are just so relaxed down here, sometimes to a fault where some people just don´t want to do anything. But I would say the biggest trouble we have down here is this:

YES it is poor here which leads to them being

1. HUMBLE
2. RECEPTIVE

BUT

It is difficult to try and get them to do things because it is a challenge, or requires effort. Being too relaxed does have its downfalls.

It is a different culture, a different people, and a different part of the world BUT the gospel principles never change. The faithful members of the church down here are amazing. They never miss church or any of its activities, they pray every day and night, the gospel is their life nothing else. No other major distractions like we have in the United States like television, computers, video games, minigolf, lagoon, movies, restaurants really a lot of things we take for granted. They don´t have any of the luxuries we have, heck most people don´t have clean water or proper sanitation. But they make do with what they have- family, friends, the book of mormon, going to church, etc.It truly is amazing...

I have only been out here 1 1/2 weeks, almost completing my second. I still have so much time here to try and help these people the best I can. I know that I can make a difference down here.

I love you all and love to write you every P-Day! I love to get your emails and letters and here how you´re doing. I love each one of you -Dad, Mom, Jack, Sunnie, Autumn, Paisley, and Kye. I loved to hear from the experience you had yesterday. That truly made my day!

Anyways, hope to hear from you next week!

Amo les,
Elder Martinez

Ninth Letter

Hola Familia!

So it is my first ¨P-Day¨ here in Paraguay! I finally got to the Asuncion airport at 6:30 and we went to the mission home to have dinner and a kind of orientation meeting. I slept over at the mission home with a few other missionaries with the others went to a hotel. We met our companions the next day and took a taxi to our apartment!

My companion is Elder Larson from Salt Lake. He went to the University of Utah, is an only child and is our District Leader. He is so helpful and kind and has pushed me, but not to the point of total shutdown mode. He really is a great trainer and even though he is not Latino he sure does sound like it :).

I am in Area 1, District 1, and Zone 1, a.k.a. ¨Centro¨ or the heart of Asuncion- the city. It is amazing here. Complete poverty within a city. I wish I had more pictures of the streets and the people, but the Mission President and his wife said either not to or try and hide your camera when you do it because people will see that your ¨wealthy¨ and will follow you. So I´ll try to get more pictures of the city and members by next pday.

The Spanish is completely different here than in the MTC. The first few days were hard, but the Lord is blessing me with the language and for the most part I am able to understand the people and try to use what simple Spanish I know to help them. They are very kind and patient people, they will help when you don´t know how to say things. I love it here.

The members here too are all sooooo generous! They are great cooks and have fed us a ton here! Oh and the juice, fruit and basically everything here is made fresh! I almost died when I had the juice for our dinner the first night at the mission home! THe people will feed you even when they financially struggle. Another thing, our Branch President´s wife is Portugeuse and she made true Brazillian food- yes even better than Rodizollios and Tuscanos! They made chicken hearts and had steaks, sausage, hamburger. Everything even the hamburger was amazing and tasted better than any of the other meat I have had at any other restaurants! You would have died! They have churros with dulce de leche stuffed in the middle, things called alfahors which are like top quality chocolate cupcake things, oh I could go on and on and on! The food here is awesome!

Another thing I think you would love to know is that I have already had girls want to sell themselves to me. There are so many girls here and they all want to...well...you know...Anyways my companion told me about that and how to just ignore and not lead them on. It was funny because the other day there was a hooker and she was only 14! Not good! There are many girls here that just think that it is normal to sleep around. Nobody ever gets ¨Married¨and if you do its a struggle. But I have faith that people will find out why marriage is so important, as well as keeping the law of chastity.

Because we are south of the equator we have opposite seasons here. I have learned that even though I am in a humid usually hot climate area, when it gets cold in the winter, IT GETS COLD! It will be about 60 degrees and because of the humidity it feels like >30! There are also 3 types of rain that I have learned from my companion:

1. Normal Rain (Misty kind of rain)
2. Rain Rain (Which is like the rain we have in a bad storm in Utah)
3. Stay inside Rain (Rain that cause the streets to flood and if you stand out for 2 seconds its like you were in drenched in the shower for hours!)

Crazy huh!

The other thing is by the end of my mission I might be able to speak 3 new languages instead of just one. They use a lot of mixed Guarani and Portuguese with Spanish. My companion knows a lot of Portugeuse and Guarani and hes been out for only a year! Crazy!

About our apartment, they call it un ¨pension¨. We have a cockroach infestation and any water we drink has to be with our filter water bottles. The showers have a device that warms the water as it comes out, but just enough so its not freezing cold.:) We have to wear sandals always because of the bugs that will crawl into your feet. Its fun...

Anyways, a lot of changes and a lot of different experiences here! I am definately not in Utah any more :) It will be a great experience for me and I hope that I will be able to help the people here. They are awesome humble and hopeful people.

I love you all and hope everything is going well for you!

Les amo muchismo muchismo!
-Elder Martinez

First dinner with the Maestre family!

Eighth Letter

Hola Familia!

Sorry I wasn´t able to give you a call today! None of the payphones where working in the Buenos Aires Argentina Airport! Don´t worry I´m just telling you that I am safe, met with my fantastic mission president and his wife and I love you all!

Love you!

Elder Martinez

Seventh Letter

Hola Amigos y Amigas!

Well its the final count down! Only 4 days and I head off to the final destination of Asuncion Paraguay!!!! I'm so excited and anxious to leave and teach the people!

I want to thank all of you who have sent me words of encouragement, gifts, and pictures while I have been down here at the MTC. They mean so much coming from the people I love! Just as a heads up I probably won't be able to mail a lot of things to you from now on because of the mail system. Things take forever to get here and there so just keep checking this blog. New and upcoming photos are coming under the "Photo's" tab. Sometime next week you should see the wonderous times of my adventures down here. It is Great! It won't be soon until I am fully involved in the work!

I pray for you always!

Les Amo Muchismo,

Elder Martinez

Sixth Letter

¡Hola Mis Amigos!

I had a great week this week and I will tell you why! We had the Mission Presidents Seminar down here this week with the Apostles and Prophets and Elder David A. Bednar came to speak to us on Friday! His topic was being a "Preach My Gospel" Missionary. Him as well as 5 other apostles -E. Oaks, E. Ballard, E. Scott, E. Nelson, and E. Perry! It was amazing and the Spirit was soooo strong!

Its week number 5 and as of this last tuesday our district is the oldest in our branch! Weird huh??? I think it is at least. It's crazy how time works. Being engaged is such a great cause really makes things go by much quicker!

Everything else is pretty much the same down here, and I wish I had more to tell you, but that is really all that is going on...

I really enjoy getting your mail and try to get back to every single one of you, but if I don't, don't hate me for it ;) I know this work is real. I was called here with these other elders in my branch and district for a reason. The Apostles and Prophets that lead our church today are so real and I know that they testify of Jesus Christ and of our Heavenly Father! I'm so grateful to have a loving and caring ward family who supports and uplifts one another.

Les amo,
Elder Martinez

Fifth Letter

Hello Everyone!

Can't believe its already been 4 weeks (1 month) since I first got here! Time flies! The days this week haven't been that eventful so sorry I don't have a lot to write about.

-First of all thank you mom for the package you put together! Everyone loves you and enjoys all the treats you bring!

-This week in the MTC is a new Mission Presidents seminar where mission presidents from all around the world come and get instruction before they enter the field this upcoming July. To add on to that we also have been getting more new missionaries- more than are leaving the MTC so needless to say everywhere you go it is PACKED!

-Our district seems to be accident prone. We have Elder Polevia cut his leg this week from hopping the front gate and totally biff it, Elder Costantino who is from Fruit Heights brake his ankle playing soccer on the field, and I broke my arm trying to climb a tree for gym time...(Just kidding) I really didn't break my arm, just wanted to put that in there to make sure you were paying attention. :)

- I'm at the point where all the days seem to just blend all together down here. Days just go by butthey seem like they go on forever, but its not bad its just different. I think about how much there is to do and how much time there is to do it in down here, so their is always something to keep you preoccupied.

Anyways that is really all I have for you this week, hopefully with the devotional tomorrow, I'll have something cool to share with you on who all was there.

I love you and keep you all in my prayers!

Les amo,
Elder Martinez

Fourth Letter

Hola Amigos!

Its just a great day down here at the MTC! Can't believe its already been 3 weeks! CRAZY! Next Wednesday will be my 1 month anniversary! :) I have some much to talk about but such little time to let you know so I'll try and cover as much as I can!

-The language is definately coming along. Everyone in our district is trying their very hardest to get talking and teaching in Espanol.

-We had President Rosemary Wixom (General Primary President) come talk to us this week for our Tuesday devotional which turned out to be extremely valuable. She had us sing some primary songs but really talked about our root values based all the was back to primary. The Spirit was really strong!

-I appreciate all the letters from everyone- I try to write back as soon as I can while I'm still here in the U.S.! :) Your love and kind words always help me feel strong in the work I've been called to do. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

-So I met an Elder in our new district who's last name is "Rothlisberger". Interesting, huh? So I asked him, not thinking what I thought was going to be true, if he was related to THE Ben Rothlisberger. He is- he is a nephew of Steelers Quarterback Ben Rothlisberger. For all you back at home I will get a picture of him and send it hopefully soon. Just thought I should let you know that I am with greatness here at the MTC! :)

- I know this letter is not super long, but I just want to close to leave you with my testimony. I know that I'm here at this time for a reason. I have learned so much and am grateful for everything I have learned and been taught here. Not a day goes by that I don't thank my parents for how they have raised me and are raising my other siblings. They are the best parents anyone could have. As for my siblings, I love them SOOOOO MUCH! I'm so grateful to have the family I do. I'm grateful for my Grandparents, my aunts and uncles, my cousins, and especially my Father in Heaven and his son Jesus Christ. I thank them for all that I have daily and pray that you know how much they love you. I'm so thankful for this gospel. I KNOW that it changes lives and blesses them.


Thanks for all the support and love!

Mucho amor,
Elder Martinez

Third Letter

Hola Familia!

Everything is going great down here at the MTC! It seems like I have been here for over 2 years now, but the time goes by super quick!

Congradulations Cole on graduating from good ol' high school! That is FANTASTIC! Now that school is out enjoy the summer while you can! Oh, I thought I should let you know that one of your good buddies- Elder Hall from Preston ID is my zone leader and leaves for Bogota Colombia next Monday! He is a really funny cool guy!

To my parents- I am getting my vaccination for yellow fever hopefully today sometime. Not to stress you out but, they should be sending you a bill for the vaccination soon I hope. :)

I sent my first batch of 50 pictures off to you guys today (Thursday). You should get them either Saturday or Monday. I don't know how much I can keep on doing it though because of how much time (takes about a 7 days) and the cost ($7.50) + the cost of shipping. If you want to just send me a memory stick so I can just send them to you until I actually get out into my mission that would probably work best.

So about the progress of the "one-upper" Elder, it is getting much better. I saw him for who truly was the other night after our Tuesday night devotional. While he was sharing with our district what he had learned his hands were shaking a little bit; I think he was just nervous but this feeling came to me to just love him for who he is. It was a major learning experience for me here. I saw this fake and insincere elder as just someone trying to do his best to be accepted.

Every week it seems like the numbers of missionaries we get are more than the people who are leaving. Lines for meals are longer, lines to use the bathrooms are longer, EVERYTHING. We just barely got a new district in our branch who are all Spanish speaking, but are leaving for Canada. The next district leaves Monday for their own missions but it just seems like we are getting more and more people.

Sorry to hear about the wonderful JB Allen. It's a good thing I left right before you started having problems :) Everything will work out one way or another.

Jackson be careful with the Red Car. Do well and study for the driving test and you will be fine- Just make sure you focus!

Thank you so much for the package of goodies! I don't know when I'll be able to eat the sardines but I'll try to find somewhere and time:) As far as gum goes, I can't have it. They don't want you to chew gum in the MTC, mints are fine, but no gum. Thanks though :)

I love you guys very much and hope everything is going well with each and every one of you! I know this gospel is true and I know that I am here at this time for a specific reason. I love my mission and am glad to be here.

Les Amo,
Elder Martinez

Second Letter

Hola Familia!

I still can't figure out how to attach these flippin pictures to my email! I heard that they don't allow attaching them to your email until you are actually out in the field! Anyway I've been trying to do it with my computer skills but still haven't been able to attach them. They have some sort of add-on to all the computers here. Prints of photos take 2-3 days to develop! So if I do send you some I'll get a bunch- I'll save them up for one big email- would you like that?

Anyway I have a lot to talk to you about:

• We have started teaching two investagors- one we follow up with every week until we leave, and the other we meet in a separate building and teach them for that day. Its nice to start gaining that experience before we actually leave. It's hard to do it in Spanish, but they are easy on us because it is our first lesson we gave.
• A member of my Branch Presidency advised us to get like a mini 3x5 photo album of our family so that when we get out in the field, we can use it as a conversation starter. So could you do that for me?
• I had a great learning experience for yesterday as we were teaching one of our investigators- who is also our teacher- "Juan". I am the junior companion in our companionship but I do most of the talking because I can understand and speak it. My poor companion is having a hard time understanding the language and you can tell he is just having a difficult time. I talked afterward with my teacher on what I could do to help him, and we had a lesson on Elder Holllands talk in the MTC from 1999 on missionary work. To sum it up he basically said "In missionary work, the lenguage of the Spirit comes first, then the lenguage you are asked to speak." It was great for both of us.
• My companion got sick the other night-poor guy! It was just like Sunnie that one night when we were playing pool and he just got up and went to the bathroom. I stayed behind to help him out, he felt bad, but I assured him that we all get sick and that is why I am a companion to him- to help him. He was really grateful and thankful for my help.
• We had another Elder in our district who just wasn't to well at all- spiritually, physically, and mentally. He was questioning why he was here and the purpose of the Church. He literally did not eat any of the meals for 4 days! After Sunday night devotional he was fine! Brother Allen, the MTC director, talked about the purpose of missionary work and why we were here. He also talked about enduring to the end and to stick with your mission, never live with the regret. It was amazing he knew who he was, why he was here, and where he was going. The Spirit truly testified of missionary work.
• People I have seen since I've been here:
• Mark Homer
• Jeff Clawson
• Connor Johnson (tanners cousin)
• Darren Hill
• Marshall Hall
• Kye Davis
• Parker Harris
• And a lot more I can't remember at this very moment. Needless to say, you see everyone here, which helps!
• Thanks for sending the doughnuts! Everyone loved them and were sooo grateful for them. There was not one missionary who didn't say "thanks". They also want to say thanks to you mom.
• Keep on sending the letters. They really are like GOLD! The Dearelders are perfect and they day you send them is the day I get them! They keep my spirits up and don't ever think that I will get sick of them :)
• Sunnie, make sure you are updating my blog. Take my church email address off the message as well as the "NOTICE" message at the bottom. Let me know if you are able to handle it okay. Thanks love you!
• You probably already know this with the other letter I sent you but I guess I need the "Yellow Fever" vaccination. I didn't have it on my records that you sent with me, but Lisa said that I had got all that I needed. Weird? Would you look into that for me mom or dad- thanks!
• Please let my deacons and the priests quorom know how much I love this gospel. Missions are hard, but they are also sooo rewarding. You grow in all ways-spiritually, mentally, physically. There is nothing better than serving a mission. Let them know that it is hard- but what things in life that are extremely valuable not?

I love you all very much,

Elder Martinez

Matthew 10:22

First Letter

Hola Familia!

It has been a LONG week here at the MTC! I will not lie, the first day was extremely difficult- all of the new changes and responsibilties we had seemed like they were never going to stop! Once you get here you jump right in to workshops, classes, and actually teaching "investigotoars" of the gospel. As for the language- you need to speak it alll the time. Its funny because no own in my district knows a lot of Spanish, but because of my jr. high and college classes I know a lot of the basics. So the language is not what I am worried about like a lot of the Elders out here. Homesickness got the better of me when I put our family picture up along with finding the photo of Kye in my back pocket of my backpack.But, I did pray that first night that everything would be O.K. and that I would not miss you guys sooo much. The next morning was fantastic, not to be mean or careless but I didn't feel homesick at all.

My companion's name is Elder Horton from Pocatello, Idaho. He is a funny querky Elder who reminds me sooo much of Tanner Satchwell. He kind of looks like him, but he reminds me of him more in his mannerisms. He is a great Elder!

Our district is very cool! We have 12 elders total with 11 going to the Asuncion, Paraguay Mission and 1 elder (from American Samoa) leaving for Uruguay Montevideo. I think I have all there names down:

Elder Whaley - Don't know where he's from

Elder Oberg - Bountiful, UT

Elder Costantino - Fruit Heights, UT

Elder Anderson - Mesa, AZ

*Elder Martinez - Kaysville, UT

*Elder Horton - Pocatello, ID

*Elder Calvert- Denver Colorado

*Elder Polivea- American Samoa

Elder Hauser- St. Johns, AZ

Elder Bybee- Gilbert, AZ

Elder Wistensen- Cedar Hills, UT

Elder Schouten- Centerville, UT

*Means we are share the same room- four to a room, two bunks, four closets, and four desks.

I have a lot of stuff! You should be getting a letter or two from me this coming week, sorry they are short but I didn't have a lot of time to write them. When I got here they had hangers, all the bedding, irons, ironing boards, and a lot of the stuff I could have just got at the bookstore. I am known to be the local "pharmacist" in my district seeing how I have double of every vitamin, mineral, and supplement you could imagine ;) But I would rather have it that way then come here to the MTC with only one suitcase- ELder Calavert & Elder Polievia both had their suitcases lost from the airlines! Fun huh!

Everything is going well here though, we get told that the first week is always the hardest. Everyone in my district feels like we have been here for months if not years! Another thing, they feed us very well here- we never go hungry, but because dad has asked me in all my letters- YES we fart all the time. I don't think I have gone to bed without everyone in our room just letting them ripp! :)

We have a fairly new branch president- President Nelson. From what I here he is very different from the other Branch President. We met him two nights ago and he is extremely STRICT! It's funny though, our zone leaders and districts leaders aren't rebellious, but the give us some slack. Don't worry the slack I'm talking about is just little things that I still do, but the other elders have a hard time adjusting to- exactly 10:15 quiet time, 6:30 wakeup, as long as everyone makes it to their meetings by 7 and goes to bed by 10:30 they don't care.They are hilarious and have made the time here at least a little bit more bareable.

I can't figure out how to attach pictures through the mail yet, but I will send you some next week in the mail.

I love you all, keep writing me letters- they keep me going even if its just a sentence or too.

Hasta Leugo!

-Elder Martinez